The numbers of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates for the disease in Alabama are showing an encouraging trend in reports this week by the state Department of Public Health.

The weekly average number of new COVID-19 cases per day has dropped for nine consecutive days, from 4,280 a day on Jan. 10 to 2,671 in Tuesday’s report.

The agency reported 2,515 new cases of the disease in its daily update on Tuesday, bringing the overall total since the pandemic began in March to 426,543.

The number of people being treated for the coronavirus in hospitals around the state also has dropped in recent days. That figure was 3,084 – the highest since the pandemic began – on Jan 11. It has fallen since then, to as low as 2,654 on Sunday. It stood at 2,724 on Tuesday.

UAB, which saw a rise in the number of COVID-19 patients after the recent holidays, has reported a slow decline since then. The hospital had a peak of 285 patients being treated for the coronavirus on Jan. 3. There have been fluctuations over the past week, and Tuesday’s total was 266.

Dr. Sarah Nafziger, co-chair of UAB’s Emergency Management Committee, said Tuesday that the decline in the number of coronavirus patients had opened up beds for other patients. She said a continued decrease would allow the resumption of more elective surgeries that have been postponed because of the number of COVID patients.

ADPH reported five deaths in Tuesday’s update, raising the total in Alabama for the pandemic to 6,126. There is a lag of two weeks or more in the reporting of coronavirus deaths to the state, so it is too early to tell if that number also is dropping.

Counties with numbers of cases, individuals tested and deaths.